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Not discussed here is car seat and seatbelt requirements. If you have multiple children in car seats or boosters, you’re going to have a hard time getting more
by docandrew 3y ago
Not discussed here is car seat and seatbelt requirements. If you have multiple children in car seats or boosters, you’re going to have a hard time getting more than one in the backseat of a sedan.
- 1-6 3y agoYeah, why not allow for 3-row wagons and the return of 3rd rows with reversed seating? It seems like an easy win for some families who have to choose between an SUV or van.
- lukas099 3y agoMan, I loved those rear-facing seats as a kid.
- sbaiddn 3y agoThey were great. Especially in college with chill friends
- sbaiddn 3y agoPutting the seat there is easy. The trick is making it safe when it's on or behind the rear axle. Everyone else in the car is in a cocoon.
- nine_k 3y agoWhat makes it less safe?
- ultrarunner 3y agoThe rest of the giant vehicles on the road
- sbaiddn 3y agoDumb weight for one. Structural design for another. Everything in between the teo axles has to be very strong since it keeps forces generated by the road from ripping the car apart. On top of that, outside the axles, you're in the automobile's crumple zone - ie it's deliberately designed to fold in itself to absorb the blow of impact. I don't like putting my mother in law on my SUV's third row - I'm loath to put my kid
- hoherd 3y agoMinivans are the most convenient vehicle for families with multiple children. Minivans are not classified as SUV's.
- ghaff 3y agoI have friends (not soccer moms) who often transport a lot of people for activities (like shuttles for whitewater paddling). A number of them use minivans and don't like how the options have decreased relative to 3-row SUVs which they think are relatively less practical cars for their purposes. (And I tend to agree.)
- kube-system 3y agoThe market optimizes for what people will buy, not what they like. If people begrudgingly buy 3 row SUVs instead of minivans, the bean counters count that as a win. There are still 4 minivans on the US market, and really I don’t think there’s space for any others to sell successfully. The ones that exist are damn competitive for what they are, and they still don’t sell well.
- ghaff 3y ago>There are still 4 minivans on the US market, and really I don’t think there’s space for any others to sell successfully. The ones that exist are damn competitive for what they are, and they still don’t sell well. Oh I don't really disagree. The Sienna and Odyssey seem like good vehicles. I'm less familiar with the remaining American(?) models. I also don't know enough to meaningfully speculate why 3-row SUVs took over from minivans for fairly similar use cases even though they seem less effective in a lot of circumstances. Part of it is probably image--especially for some male drivers--but I lack the data to have a strong opinion.
- _yb2s 3y agoMost of the “SUVs” in the US market are really just minivans disguised to look masculine. It took a few decades for manufacturers to realize that this is what people wanted- the rugged looks of a 4x4 with the people transporting ability of a minivan, and no wasted expense or weight on offroad ability. The VW Atlas for example is made specifically for the US market, a 3 row front wheel drive minivan that looks SUV like. It was pretty funny 20 years ago before this was realized- big SUVs had low range transfer cases, skid plates, lockers, air suspension, and tons of other expensive and complicated offroad hardware. The people buying and driving these had no idea what those parts were for, and only found out they had them when they would accidentally activate them on pavement and get an expensive repair bill.
- tzs 3y agoThere are sedans that can have three child seats installed on the backseat. See [1] and [2] for examples. Note that the second link is to an Australian site, so may be using car seats that are not available in the US. Here's a unit, not available in the US, that fits 3 kids in the back of a Fiat 500 [3]. They have a 4 seater [4] that works in a Honda Civic and similar sized cars. [1] https://www.carmax.com/articles/cars-that-fit-three-car-seats https://www.carmax.com/articles/cars-that-fit-three-car-seat... [1] https://www.onlineauto.com.au/best-cars/5-seat-cars-fit-3-child-seats https://www.onlineauto.com.au/best-cars/5-seat-cars-fit-3-ch... [3] https://www.multimac.com/p/multimac_1000_3_seater https://www.multimac.com/p/multimac_1000_3_seater [4] https://www.multimac.com/p/multimac_1200_4_seater https://www.multimac.com/p/multimac_1200_4_seater
- docandrew 3y agoA custom $1500 set of car seats for a small compact is unreasonable. Good luck fitting three normal car seats in any of the sedans in that first link. It’s difficult enough in a _full size truck_.
- sbaiddn 3y ago1. Where's the reverse facing seat for infants? Ive had one installed in my car since '16 and Ill continue to have one for another three years (legally anyway. I hate them and Ill probably chuck it in two). 2. There are tons of car review sites touting three cars seats side by side. I own one of these cars. They don't actually fit. Not in real life. Think of it like the McBurger commercial on TV. In real life... bleh. 3. A big car solves many problems other than transporting three kids. Ive only put 2800 miles on my SUV this year, but: - Ive driven six (six!) people on two >600 mi journeys. - Ive loaded it with all the tiles and flooring needed for my remodel - picked up 2x4s and the like - taken my neighbors kid's to the theater with my family many times
- sbaiddn 3y agoYup. I can squeeze the kids in the Golf... if my eldest doesn't use her booster. I can put them in the Sorrento.... But I have to buckle her into her seat belt while shes standing holding the boosted. Then I have to lift them both to get them i to position. We want a new car. We were going to buy a Sienna hybrid. But they're ridiculously priced, unobtainium and, frankly, not that big. So Im looking at a low milage Expedition Max or convincing the wife for a Sprinter.
- freedomben 3y agoYep, we just got our Sienna hybrid a couple weeks ago. We literally waited 19 months to get it. It's beyond absurd at this point. Maybe some people are buying SUVs because they can't wait until their new baby is walking and talking before driving them somewhere?
- _yb2s 3y agoThe golf is such a well designed car… a tiny efficient car with more usable space inside than many SUVs. When I had a kid I went from a golf to a full sized SUV and was shocked to find that the usable space was barely any larger.
- sbaiddn 3y agoLove the Golf, but honestly, the hatchback versa's space efficiency impressed me more than the golf. It's significantly smaller than the golf, but its tall, has a smaller engine bay and very thin doors. It was easier to pack my firstborn's stuff in it than the Golf. We got rid of it for the Sorrento when we got rear ended when my daughter was four days old. Then I decided I'd get the heaviest vehicle I could then afford - the Sorrento.
- prepend 3y agoI don’t know about that. I had a tiny Audi a3 over 10 years ago and easily fit two giant recaro car seats. And a booster seat sat between them.
- IshKebab 3y agoYou can get two car seats in pretty much any not tiny car. Three or more, sure. Are 3+ children families really that common in America? They're pretty rare in the UK now due to childcare costs and the fact that housewives are rare.